What You Need To Know About Skin In Your 40s

So, you’re turning 40! It's a landmark year to celebrate many milestones, both career and personal. You’ve had adventures and fun. You’ve made mistakes, and have learned to laugh about them (we hope!). You’ve gained things like “perspective,” “experience,” “wisdom,” — you know, those words grown-ups like to bandy about. Wait, you are (gasp) a grown-up (How did that happen? you ask yourself.) And, you can be proud to have your own special, grown-up-like things to show for it, like a killer résumé, 401K, mortgage, and yes, wrinkles and sun spots.

By now, you’ve seen the first signs of skin aging (blame the sun), but honestly, it’s not so bad. Before you freak out, no one woman is going to experience every single one of the facial changes we listed ahead in her 40s. If she did, she’d have the luck of Job. It’s likely you’ll have one to maybe three issues that will be prominent. And, you don’t have to play a guessing game. Genetics play a large factor, so look at photos of your mom or other female relatives to see how they looked during this decade.

If you consider your wrinkles a badge of honor and scoff at our anti-aging culture, more power to you. If you’re an interventionist, there are more options than ever, and we’ll spell them out. Either way, we applaud that women have more and more choices every day, including how to approach aging. Your 40s will be as unique as you are. And, we want you to sail through the decade with the same devil-may-care, I’ve-got-this attitude you’ve always had. So, here’s your guide to some of the changes you might see — and how to deal with them.

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